The Rares

Chapter 32

~~~~Russet~~~~

"No!"

Red's desperate cry pulled at my heart. He reached up and shook his brother's shoulder.

"No, no, no!" He wailed. "Gray!"

He broke down sobbing, and leaned against me. I wrapped my arms around him, rubbing his back.

Cosan simply watched the scene with dumbfounded, wide eyes. I supposed that the last time he dealt with death, besides unborn and stillborn pups, was when his parents and brother died, even though that was eleven years ago.

"Um... Should I...?" He trailed off, confused and uncertain.

"Go get Silver."

He nodded and left.

Isa was staring down at Gray's limp body, a horrified look in her eyes. I could tell that she felt guilty for Gray's death.

Silver soon arrived, heading straight for Red and I. She looked at me questioningly.

It took me some time to realize what she meant. I wasn't so upset.

Again, it took me some time to realize why.

I have been faced with so much death that it doesn't really affect me anymore. My best friends, my brother, my first love, they have all died right in front of me. The loss of another loved one isn't the same as it used to be. The pain isn't there anymore.

Or maybe it just hadn't settled in yet.

I sighed. "I'm going to go tell our pups," I murmured. "So... So they know what's going on."

"What?" Silver asked me, obviously confused.

"Snow, Speckle, Riner, Adrian, Jazz, Haley, Alii, Winter, Zephyr, Zimri, you know, the pups we've had?"

I turned and headed out, gathering them as I saw them. I hurried back to my room to get Zerrec and our pups, including Rhea.

I got to our meeting room where everyone was gathered, including Aeriana, Sam, Simon, Jaybird, and Crow.

"I have some really, really bad news," I announced. "Gray has just died."

The room erupted into exclamations, with some Halves yelling, some just sitting in shock, and some asking me if it was true.

"Gray's dead?" Adrian asked over the noise, his eyes stretched wide. 

I stared at him in shock.

"What?" He asked, slightly defensive.

"You... You've finally opened your eyes."

"I have? Really?" He blinked. "I have! I really have!" He hopped around jubilantly.

"Something's wrong," Jasper told him. " Something with your eye."

Adrian looked over at him. "What do you mean?"

I stepped closer to him. "It looks like Snow hit part of your eye when he hit your face."

As Adrian figured out his eye, I left and went back to the infirmary.

Red was sitting, his back against the wall, tears streaming down his face. Silver was next to him, attempting to comfort him, but not knowing how.

Cosan watched them, sorrow in his eyes, unmoving.

I stepped over to Cosan, and wrapped my hand around his.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Why?"

"You were the last one to talk to him. I would think that would leave a lasting impression."

"I wasn't the last one. Jaybird and Crow were. You should ask them, they were closer to him."

___________

The funeral was a solemn affair. All of the Halves on the stronghold were there, mourning our lost friend.

Red, Silver, Cosan, and I all spoke, telling of a distant aspect of Gray's life.

When it all was over, we were walking back into the stronghold, each of us deep in our thoughts.

"This is your fault," Red growled.

"What?"

"This is your fault." He repeated. "You let him go into that fire, you let him die. You killed my brother!"

I backed away from him, my eyes wide. He approached me, snarling, his face twisted with grief and fury.

I crouched down and squeezed my eyes shut, knowing that if I tried to rationalize with Red in his grief-stricken state, it would only anger him more.

I heard him slowly approaching as I shook in fear. It occurred to me that I didn't know how strong Red was. I had never seen him fighting when I wasn't occupied.

He was about to jump on me when I felt a blast of freezing cold wind.

"Stop!" Shouted a voice that I never thought I would hear again.

I heard Red's body thump on the floor and his breath knocked out of him.

I slitted open my eyes to see pawless legs standing in front of me.

My eyes traveled upward, and my breath caught in my throat as I saw the smiling face of Gray looking gently down at me.

"Red, stop this nonsense!" He ordered, his form growing less transparent. "Russet did not kill me, you know that!"

"W-what?" Red whispered. "How? You... You're dead."

Gray ignored his brother as I shakily stood up.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I nodded.

"How is this possible?" Red asked, staring at Gray.

"I'm a ghost. A specter, if you will. I'm not the first one around here, and I'm not the only one hanging around now."

Gray suddenly lost his footing and stumbled.

"Hey!" He protested. "Just because you're not visible to them doesn't mean you can mess with me like that!"

"Who are you talking to?" I asked. Gray didn't answer, instead disappearing, doing who knows what.

I grumbled in annoyance as Gray flashed back into vision.

"Sorry," He apologized. "Had to deal with an annoying friend." He cast an angry look over his shoulder to someone I couldn't see.

Red finally realized what Gray being visible meant, and he bounded up to him, pressing his face into his brother's fur.

"I was so scared that I would lose you," He mumbled.

"What?" Zerrec asked. "I thought he was the only one..."

I looked up to see Zerrec staring at Gray in surprise, then it felt like my heart was about to stop when a pair of glowing red eyes became visible, a brown-furred body following it.

The one who had caused all of my suffering, the one who had cause my kidnapping, he was here.

Zorio was here.

Hey, mousers! Sorry I haven't updated in so long, I've been busy working on ALN that I haven't gotten the time to work on The Rares. I'll try to update a bit more often, but I'll leave it like this and I hope you like my chapter!